Cathy Bishop, who retired from  Niece Products of Kansas on December 31, 2022, is the new event manager for the River Room Event Center, at Oak Street and National Avenue.

Al Niece is the owner of the building at 3 W. Oak and the River Room is located on the second floor.

Bishop, who was the Niece Products of Kansas Human Resource Director prior to her retiring, now schedules reservations and manages the set up of the alcohol bar.

Renters will need to secure catered food for their event, Bishop said.

“We don’t have a working, cooking kitchen, but do have a refrigerator,” she said.

“There is a cash bar and we supply the bartender and alcohol or beer,” she said

Some of the bigger reservations this year are for the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce Banquet in April and the Fort Scott High School Prom on May 6.

“We contract by volume of people attending,” Bishop said. “We also charge by the hour for a small two-hour event.”

Contact Bishop via email for more information on rates charged at [email protected].

In addition to banquets and proms, they have provided a venue for weddings, anniversaries and graduations, to name a few.

The event center will hold 700 capacity, but that would be standing room only, Bishop said.

“Four hundred people is a comfortable number of attendees,” she said.

Although the email is the preferred way to contact Bishop, the phone number for the River Room is 620.820.0536.

History Of The Building

According to hearsay, the building has housed a roller rink, car dealership, bowling alley and a couple of restaurants, the most recent: Luther’s BBQ, Bishop said.

Bishop came upon a book about the building with some information: